Ad Sales to Mirror Stock Market in Near Future

A great deal of attention is being focused on projects aiming to make the ad buying and selling process similar to that of commodities, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Microsoft, Yahoo and Google are working on ways to compete with smaller players in becoming ad exchanges, marketplaces where ad inventory is offered and snapped up by buyers. These automated systems would be able to connect buyers with what otherwise would have been unsold inventory, a frequent headache for publishers unable to sell leftover spots.

Firms like Right Media, ContextWeb and others have created their own marketplaces by signing blog network partners and other deals. But a large-scale solution remains elusive. Many publishers, especially those tied to traditional media outlets, still rely on sales people and their contacts, a less efficient process that is nonetheless steeped in tradition and politics.

Cynics feel exchange marketplaces will only excel at selling scatter and non-premium inventory since big brands negotiate their own buys. Others contend that there is more than enough inventory to keep a robust ad market happy.

Bonnier Develops Video Content For 40 Titles

Swedish Bonnier Corp. is planning to produce online video content for more than 40 of its big titles, including the recently acquired Time4Media titles, according to MediaPost. With digital infrastructure provided by the Onstream Media Corporation, the video initiative accompanies a parallel push to develop more social media and networking functions. Bonnier is seeking to expand the online footprint of titles including Parenting, Babytalk, Popular Science, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life, Saveur, Spa and various sports enthusiast publications.

As part of the program, the Parenting Group is partnering with Studio 4 Networks to produce free video content for Parenting magazine that targets mothers, called "What Matters to Moms." In the series, Parenting editors discuss issues of importance to overtaxed modern mothers, including controlling temper tantrums, good manners and health issues. The video content will be available online as well as on Parenting's VOD channel, carried by Cox, Shaw, Charter, and DirecTV.

Jeff Wellington, president and group publisher of the Parenting Group, said the relationship will "create targeted opportunities for our advertisers to reach a captive audience of mom viewers." Ed Stansfield, CEO of Studio 4 Networks, added that "the partnership offers sponsors a direct and compelling opportunity to reach moms in a contextual kid-centered environment."

Gen Y Reads More Print, Not Less, than Older Counterparts

Despite worries that tech-savvy Gen Yers are ditching print media for digital, research house McPheters & Co. finds that 19-34 year-olds are actually reading more consumer magazines than older consumers, reports MediaPost.

After reporting the results, McPheters assumed they were skewed due to a low sample. To ensure accuracy, the group checked a similar study conducted last year by Readership.com across 8,400 pollsters. It confirmed that "adults in the 19-24 and 25-34 age groups reported that they read a larger number of both different magazine titles and specific magazine issues than their older counterparts," said company partner John McPheters of McPheters & Co.

"This evidence speaks directly to the growing concern that younger audiences are abandoning the hard-copy magazines for the Internet and other forms of media. It simply has not happened," he added.

MarketingCharts offers more data from the survey, including tables.

Where do media moguls go...?

As the media business goes through a generational shift, several former industry titans appear to be seeking a compass for their lives.

WHEN Michael D. Eisner left the Walt Disney Company after a shareholder revolt in 2005, the former chief executive was forced to rethink his life. Where once he had commanded a private plane to fly around the world, last year he pedaled around Italy on a bicycle. Instead of wielding the power to back the next “Pirates of the Caribbean,” today Mr. Eisner is financing a modest Web video series called “Prom Queen,” e-mailing his friends to remind them to watch.

While Viacom boss Tom Freston admits: "I'm trying to figure out what to do." Ex-Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin says: "I'm going to find myself."

New York Times has more.

Microsoft Wins aQuantive with $6 Billion Cash Bid

Per a recent commitment to broaden its digital advertising horizons, Microsoft today agreed to purchase online ad firm aQuantive for $6 billion, Internet News Reports.

At $66.50 per share at an 85 percent premium over aQuantive's Thursday closing price, the $6 billion purchase represents Microsoft's most ambitious bid to date.

Microsoft has stated it plans to use aQuantive's myriad assets to develop "new media" ad systems like cross media planning, VOD and IPTV.

From inception, aQuantive has seen significant growth spurts, having evolved into three primary brands: DRIVEpm, an ad service that matches ad campaigns with published content; Avenue A | Razorfish, a digital marketing consulting service; and Atlas, the foundation for the Media Console ad platform.

aQuantive is expected to add thrust to Microsoft's AdCenter, which serves approximately 500 users a month but remains a small contender to Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing.

The deal is expected to finalize in Q1 of 2008.

CFO Chris Liddel noted the online ad market, worth about $40 billion at present, is expected to grow 20 percent per year until 2010.

Too fast to Fast-Forward

New York Times reports this morning that a Broadcast Newtork will soon offer advertisers two more ways to try holding the attention of viewers throughout those commercial breaks that consumers love to hate.

One idea is to run quickie commercials of only five seconds each. The other is to schedule a series with no commercial breaks at all, and instead incorporate sponsors’ products into each episode.

Executives of the network CW outlined their plans yesterday as they offered Madison Avenue a preview of their prime-time lineup for the 2007-8 season.

The proposals are the most recent to be advanced by the major networks, broadcast and cable, as they grapple with the problem of keeping viewers from changing channels during commercials — or, if the viewing is being done on digital video recorders, from fast-forwarding through the spots.

The presentation by CW was part of what is called upfront week, which gets its name because the broadcasters share their programming with advertisers and agencies before the fall season begins. The upfront week for 2007-8 ended yesterday with sneak peeks at the schedules of CW, owned by the CBS Corporation and Time Warner, and Fox Broadcasting, part of the News Corporation.

Last month, Fox tried interspersing humorous program snippets between commercials, and executives said they would try other versions of the snippets during the 2007-8 season.

The other reason to tinker with traditional commercial breaks is the penchant of DVR owners to skip through spots when they play back recorded programs. That problem is getting worse as more households acquire DVRs.

The two CW ideas are based on the network’s experience since September with a device known as a content wrap, which CW produced for almost 20 brands during the 2006-7 season.

In content wraps, products of advertisers like Procter & Gamble, Toyota Motor and Unilever are integrated into a set of three short program segments on topics like fashion and music. The segments were interspersed in commercial breaks during episodes of series like “America’s Next Top Model.”

The five-second commercials, intended as shorter versions of content wraps, are called “Cwickies” — a play on the network’s name, just as the initials of “content wrap” are “CW.”

CW took in $600 million to $650 million during the upfront market last spring, while Fox sold an estimated $1.8 billion.

The 2007-8 upfront week began on Monday with NBC. The presentations continued on Tuesday with ABC and Telemundo, then with CBS and Univision on Wednesday before ending with CW and Fox yesterday.

You can view the full article here

Murdoch invests in the Baltics

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has bought two Latvian TV channels to extend its footprint into the Baltic region.

The company’s subsidiary News Corp Europe has acquired Latvian Independent Television (LNT) and a 70% stake in TV5.

Chairman of LNT Andris Ekis said: “LNT and TV5 are the beginning of the development of News Corporation's network in our region.” He added that the media giant was interested in developing a presence in Estonia, Lithuania and Belarus.